6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.4 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.4 |
Nearly 100 years after its initial release, The Birth of a Nation remains one of the most controversial films ever made and a landmark achievement in film history that continues to fascinate and enrage audiences. It is the epic story of two families, one northern and one southern, during and after the Civil War. D. W. Griffith's masterful direction combines brilliant battle scenes and tender romance with a vicious portrayal of African-Americans. It was the greatest feature-length blockbuster yet to be produced in the United States and the first to be shown in the White House. After seeing it, President Woodrow Wilson remarked it was "like writing history with lightning!"
Starring: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, Mary AldenDrama | 100% |
War | 20% |
History | 18% |
Epic | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: LPCM 2.0
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (1 BD, 2 DVDs)
DVD copy
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation—a 1915 silent about the Civil War and the Reconstruction of the South—is a clear case of one step
forward and two steps backward. It is, without question, one of the highest landmarks on the map of American cinema. It advanced the art of
narrative filmmaking with innovative new camera techniques and had the audacity for an epic three-hour runtime when most silent movies of the era
were short one-, two-, or three-reelers. It was also the first honest-to-goodness blockbuster, a massive commercial success that warranted a $2 ticket
price when the average theater admission was around 15 cents. (To put that in perspective, one ticket—adjusted for inflation—would cost over $40
today.) The Birth of a Nation was, for all intents, the birth of the Hollywood feature film.
But then, of course, there’s the issue of the movie’s cringe-inducing, unapologetically racist ideology. Actually, unapologetically is perhaps the
wrong word, as the film is an apology in the more formal sense—it justifies racism by portraying blacks as ignorant, lazy, and sexually
malevolent, and it defends the actions of the nascent Ku Klux Klan, who are championed as the saviors of the South, protectors of women and
“oppressed” whites. Used as a recruitment tool, The Birth of a Nation played no small role in the 1915 renaissance of the KKK. Most of the
iconography of the modern movement—the white hoods, the burning crosses—was even taken directly from the film.
I've seen Kino's 1993 restoration of Birth of a Nation on DVD, and a few months ago I watched the film streaming on Hulu+, and compared to both this new Blu-ray edition is a revelation. This is the earliest silent movie Kino has yet released in high definition, and it's a prime example of how wonderful these films can now look on home video. As usual, Kino's approach is to do only what is absolutely necessary to optimize the picture. Film grain is kept intact—no smeary DNR here—and the image is free of edge enhancement or other kinds of overly unnatural boosting. The picture has been digitally tinted, but this is to bring the film back to Griffith's original specifications. (Sometimes the tinting does look a bit too bright or saturated to me, but I'm no expert on what the film looked like in 1915, so I'll default to Kino.) Clarity is remarkably improved from the DVD—which is also included in this set—as everything looks more defined and resolved. The tonal dynamics are strong too, with deep blacks and a usually balanced sense of contrast. (Highlights can look a bit blown out in certain scenes.) Of course, the picture does display the expected levels of age-related wear and tear—scratches, specks, judder, and minor warping—but if you watch many silent films you're already used to this. Overall, this transfer makes for a notable advance, and film collectors should have no qualms about upgrading to the Blu-ray.
The Birth of a Nation features two audio options on Blu-ray, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Linear PCM 2.0 versions of the film's original score, as performed in 2011 by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Both the surround and stereo mixes sound great, with defined instrumentation and a wide dynamic breadth. As you'd hope, the music is complementary rather than overpowering—it suits the film perfectly. The option of a few additional interpretations of the score would've been nice, but I have no real complaints.
There are no bonus features on the Blu-ray itself, but the set includes two additional DVDs, one with the 1993 restoration of Birth of a Nation, and the second loaded with supplements, including:
The Birth of a Nation is not a film to watch lightly, but one to study and discuss, as an example of both innovative feature-length storytelling and the complicated racial attitudes that arose out of the country's damaged psyche after the Civil War. Ultimately, all we can really do is recognize the film for what it is—a technical masterpiece marred by a morally bankrupt ideology. Kino's Blu-ray release is a must-own for all serious students of early American cinema. Highly recommended.
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